In the framework of secondary education the state of Indiana has introduced in the 8th grade tech integration lessons and data collection as part of tech literacy, by way of the programme named "inACCESS - Indiana Affordable Classroom Computer for Every Secondary School".
inACCESS – one-to-one computing – started with English/language arts classrooms and has moved to science, social studies and math classrooms.



Using small grants from the Department of Education, schools purchase low-cost computers, monitors and workstations to outfit high school core content classrooms with 1:1 computers. Open-source software and operating systems enable the Linux-based program to be sustainable, affordable and reliable. There are now 120 high schools participating in the project and more than 100,000 students using open source 1:1 every day.

The Indiana Department of Education provides Ed Tech leadership, guidance and technical assistance. As technology and information literacy standards are embedded in the Indiana Academic Standards, frameworks, guidance and technical assistance workshops and materials assist classroom teachers integrate technology.

However, outside of state and federal grant programmes the majority of technology funding decisions are locally determined. Local spending equals more than 75% of all technology spending in k-12 schools. Most school-related decisions are made locally.

Three are the current programmes fostering the use of ICT in the educational process:

• the above mentioned inACCESS;


• Moodle training and professional development to improve teaching strategies;


• 5-8 maths and Algebra I portal for students and teachers.

Schools are using Moodle as a Learning Management Systems. It is a free, open source alternative to Blackboard, Angel and other LMS's.

Moodle and I-Folder are used in most inACCESS 1:1 classrooms. Both allow access to schools file/programs from home. Schools encourage parents to stay current with the student through the use of these tools.

• Funding

In Indiana, federal funding accounts for approximately USD 4 million (2.5 million EUR) per year, state funding for approximately USD 2.5 million (1.6 million EUR), E-rate for USD 8 million (5.1 million EUR) and local funding for USD 80 million (51.4 million EUR).



E-Rate is the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).


The programme provides discounts to assist most schools and libraries in the United States (and U.S. territories) to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access. It is one of four support programmes funded through a Universal Service fee charged to companies that provide interstate and/or international telecommunications services.


Funding is requested under four categories of service: telecommunications services, Internet access, internal connections, and basic maintenance of internal connections. Discounts for support depend on the level of poverty and the urban/rural status of the population served and range from 20% to 90% of the costs of eligible services. Eligible schools, school districts and libraries may apply individually or as part of a consortium.

There is still a tendency to want to fund professional development before there is any equipment to use it on, but that is giving way to more on-demand training as teachers discover things they need. Professional development as a part of ICT is around 20% of the total budget.

Although curriculum is locally determined, the state of Indiana adopts state-wide academic standards based on national standards, which can be found at: www.indianastandards.org.



As a result, ICT is embedded in Indiana Academic Standards and courses are offered at the middle and high school level. ICT programmes are offered at the high school level.

• Organisation of ICT in schools

The Indiana State Board of Education requires various classes for high school graduation. The Department of Education provides guidance and professional development. However, teaching strategies and curriculum are determined locally.

Technology staffing needs are determined by local school districts. Most schools have a person who fills the role of Technology Director. However, in most cases, there is not a technology coordinator for every building. Sometimes a teacher or another person may perform a role that contains some of the duties of a building-level coordinator, but it is ultimately up to the local school.



The State provides general guidance but specific requirements are locally determined as well.

Schools in Indiana must have a technology plan in order to apply for E-rate discounts and to receive state and federal technology grants and loans. They must also have an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).

• Use of ICT in schools

Many Indiana schools use web 2.0, social networks, blogs, wikis, online learning environments etc. The most recent state-wide adoption has been school using Moodle for learning management.

Since the State of Indiana now collects individual student information (by Student ID), management systems have become much more important. While schools used MIS for many years, the quality of the data was not always good. Schools are now moving to systems that let them do self-checks on the quality of the data. Many schools are now trying to make this information available to classroom teachers to help inform instruction.



Indiana has not adopted a state-wide Virtual Learning environment. However, many schools are now using Moodle for in-classroom and out-of-class management. Coupled with open source tools like iFolder, schools are better able to offer a 24X7 learning experience for students.



Many schools also take advantage of a growing number of virtual courses. Discussion is taking place now about how to provide consistent, high quality courses over distance education.

Intranets are developing a number of uses in schools that include the transfer of real time data from the classroom to the central office, and then back to the teacher in a format that can help them meet the needs of individual students. While not all schools have this capability yet, this use is growing. The intranet is also used to connect with on-site Moodle servers and with other instructional resources, such as Safari Video.

Most schools have, at a minimum, multiple DS1 (digital signal at 1.544 Mbit/s) circuits connecting them to the Internet. Larger schools may have up to a 1Gb connection. These are used largely for classroom Internet access to instructional resources. At night they are used to allow student access to in-school resources such as Moodle. Parent/school communication is encouraged and promoted, although not required over the Internet connections.

• Assessment of ICT competence

One expectation of the "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001 is that all students reach technological proficiency by the end of their 8th grade year.

In the 2006/2007 school year the Department of Education asked each middle school/junior high school to report the number of 8th graders who were technology literate. To assist schools in the preparation of technology proficient students the Department of Education, with assistance from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, created a matrix outlining where the NETS standards are embedded in the Indiana Academic Standards. A group of teachers in the state also created curriculum frameworks that integrate technology literacy elements in standards-rich lessons.

Indiana has developed an Algebra 1 online learning tool for Indiana teachers to assign exercises to students. In creating this maths portal for algebra students, Indiana has exchanged many copyright cleared items with other states and then aligned them to our state standards.



The exercises are multiple choice, true/false, constructed response and graphing. The resource tracks student performance on various standards. Students are then provided with online applets, multimedia lessons, and other resources to help them with specific topics. The development of a 5-8 version that will be available to students is in progress.

Indiana develops most resources in-house so that it can provide them to schools to amend and edit in order to meet local needs without copyright restrictions.

There are five virtual learning programs for students that run locally, but offered to students throughout the state.

Legislation is proposed that will establish a formal study group to look at virtual education services and make recommendations for a virtual learning system.

Indiana believes strongly in open-source software. As a part of an educational program that is affordable, sustainable, repeatable and scalable, open source is the answer for K-12 education. Currently, more than 100,000 of Indiana's 300,000 students aged 15-18 use open-source software each day.



MIT and other major universities in the US are quickly developing open content and, as more content becomes available, this will become a viable option for schools. The concept of Open Content is supported.

The Department of Education correlates resources to the State Academic Standards and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards. These resources are made available to schools, students, teachers, and parents, but their use is not directly monitored. The Department of Education works with classroom teachers to determine content resource needs and delivery modality.

• Provision

The integration of ICT in pre-service and in-service teacher education is determined by the individual universities, as well as competence standards and targets. Therefore, teachers education assessment is done at the pre-service level. Universities use one of the six US accreditation agencies.

Most professional development is determined locally at the district- or school-level. The state provides programmes to help teachers differentiate instruction, use online tools and provide next generation instructional methods.